Appalachian Bear Rescue

08/07/2026

🚨ABR Newsflash🚨
August 7, 2026 - ABR Bears #428, #429, #430, #431 Arrive
🐻🐻🐻🐻

Hemlock Bear will soon have not one, but four cubs to grow strong alongside! In a single rescue via TWRA’s Dan Gibbs, ABR’s rehabilitation residency has increased from one to five bears.

Appalachian Bear Rescue is now also caring for:

#428 - Redbud Bear, a small female cub at 4.6 kgs (10 lbs)
#429 - Quince Bear, a small male cub at 5.4 kgs (12 lbs)
#430 - Marsh Bear, a female cub at a healthier weight and size of 8.2 kgs (18 lbs)
#431 - Wintergreen Bear, a female cub also at a healthier weight and size of 8.7 kgs (19 lbs)

Just like Hemlock, each cub is a little over six months old. All four appear healthy and their mother was probably doing a fine job, but it is normal for a large litter to have some significant weight variation when all of the siblings are competing for the same milk supply. Not to worry, though, as we’ll catch Redbud and Quince up to their siblings soon enough.

As for their rescue yesterday, August 6th, TWRA’s Dan Gibbs and Janelle Musser got a call about a mother bear that was hit by a vehicle near Historic Mt. Carmel Community on Highway 107 in Washington County, Tennessee. The mother bear did not survive the incident, making her a BVM (bear-vehicle mortality). Initially, the report cited two bear cubs with the mother. However, Dan received another call, revealing an additional two cubs–bringing the total to four. Needless to say, Dan had to scramble to find two more cub traps!

Dan arrived at the scene around 10pm on Thursday, and was able to quickly catch 3 of the cubs. But the last and biggest female, Wintergreen Bear, would not trigger the trap. She went near and even inside the trap for bait, but kept backing out. Finally, Wintergreen Bear got tired and decided to go take a nap up a tree. Dan then patiently waited until the early hours of the morning for when she finally got caught in the trap–wrapping up his impressive four-cub-trapping session at sunrise.

All four cubs were then loaded up Tetris style in the back of the TWRA truck and brought to ABR. Our friends at UTCVM were unavailable to take the new load of cubs in yesterday, so they were kept in larger crates in pairs at ABR overnight and received fruit and water to tide them over.

We are always saddened by mother bears being struck and killed by cars, but ABR is the silver lining in these situations to ensure there are no additional victims. Fortunately, Hemlock now has the opportunity to have some fellow bears which is the best case scenario for any single bear cub in rehabilitation.

Friday Morning, Lead Curator Seth and Jon transferred all four cubs to UTCVM where ABR Board Member and Lead Exotics Veterinarian Julie Sheldon and her team were at the ready. Thick raptor gloves on his hands, Jon stepped in for cub wrangling/sedation duties, with Executive Director Greg handling Wintergreen Bear as she is one strong, feisty and healthy young lady. Sedating two cubs at a time, the amazing University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine team gave each orphan their full exams, parasite removal, and more. Other than the removal of some ticks and another couple small botfly larvae, the cubs were given clean bills of health!

It was, in short, an eventful Friday morning for all involved. At UT, the cubs received their names from our approved list with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency who we are deeply grateful to for giving these four cubs a second chance with ABR.

All four cubs will get their regular round of deworming, then the smaller two - Redbud Bear and Quince Bear, will be introduced to Hemlock after a few days. If everything goes according to plan through the observation period, and once everyone is acclimated, eating solid foods and appears healthy and strong, the cubs will be released to the brand new Wild Enclosures 5 and 6. Finally our 9+ month project of fence building, insulator hanging, dirt work and platform creation will be put to the ultimate cub test!

As always, we’ll keep you all updated and can’t thank you enough for your support. And again, thank you to our colleagues at TWRA for giving these four orphaned cubs a second chance at life in the wild where they belong.

🌲Adopt ABR Cubs here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/adopt-a-cub

🌲Donate here: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/donate-today/

🌲Become an ABR Member: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/membership/

08/06/2026

August 6, 2026 - Access to Acclimation Pen = Unlocked🔓✅

As ABR Bear #427, Hemlock's 🐻🌲, stay in the world famous Hartley House passed a week, it was time for a weigh in. Hemlock came to the care of ABR weighing 7.5 pounds which is less than half of an average healthy cub this time of year. However, we have kept you updated regarding his very healthy appetite so curators were curious what the weigh in would tell. Because bear cubs are untrained wild animals, getting them to step onto a scale by their own volition is very difficult. So, curators lured Hemlock into a transfer crate using the irresistible bait of red grapes and put the crate + cub onto a scale. After the big brained curators did some simple subtraction, it was found that Hemlock now weighed 13 pounds🥳. ABR is historically well known for its "bear bulking" program and we are glad to see Hemlock gain a nice amount of weight over the span of the week. We suspect that a substantial portion of this weight gain is water weight, due to his dehydrated state upon capture. This weight gain also helps curators know the calculated refeeding and general bear diet is working! Clean bowl club is still going strong!

On the Hartley House Menu for this week:
- Bear Milk Replacement formula
- Bear Diet Pellets
- Blueberries, strawberries, grapes and apples
- Pumpkin puree (*New Item*)
- Honey laced with coccidia medication (stool sample showed this common parasite in Hemlock's system so vets gave him 4 days of medication!)

With these wonderful news, a new level was unlocked for Hemlock Bear... access to the Acclimation Pen. Curators worked hard on filling the acclimation pen attached to Hartley House with foliage, logs and a cub sized tub (read: decorated). Within two minutes of the shift gate door being opened, Hemlock was "outside" exploring the new space. Because Hemlock is a 6 month old bear cub, he is well acquainted with being an "outside bear" so he spends a lot of time in the acclimation pen now. Next stop for Hemlock will be the Wild Enclosures, where he will be the first resident cub to try out the brand new space.

As promised, we finally put together an Amazon Wishlist. There are not many items on it because you all were so generous the last time we posted one, and we haven't had any cub residents to go through supplies. The most important items on the list are the electric fence insulators. We need these to reinforce some areas of the electric fence in Wild Enclosures 5 & 6. Due to the sloped terrain and unconventional fence angles, a few of the plastic insulators have broken because of the tension of the line. We decided metal insulators are needed to hold this tension. The fence is working fine now and ready for Hemlock when he is ready, but we want to have some backup metal based insulators just in case!

Link to Amazon Wishlist: https://a.co/0b5Cehqk

Adopt Hemlock Here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/adopt-a-cub

08/05/2026

Thank you Brandi Lynn- Smoky Mountain Livin’

We appreciate out efforts to highlight and raise money for our organization as part of celebrating your birthday!

Thank you so much for spreading important information every member of our community needs to know in order to responsibly share this beautiful place with our bears!

We had a great time today meeting Greg and Jaime from Appalachian Bear Rescue!

Together we raised over $1200 for this amazing organization. I chatted with Greg and learned so much more about our black bears and the efforts to keep them wild! Video to come soon of that conversation.

Be sure to give them a follow and visit their visitor center next time you are in town! Thank you for helping me raise this money for the bears and for helping keep bears wild. ❤️🐻

08/03/2026

Some behind the scenes footage with Hemlock 🐻 a feisty, wild little cub - and that's exactly what we want at Appalachian Bear Rescue.

As you all know, habituation to people and our places is the leading killer of black bears. So ABR wants Hemlock wild and not friendly to us human folk at all.

The key to rehab success with any wild animal will always be to be as hands-off as possible.

Hemlock is doing great and we expect a full recovery and a full return to wild Appalachia where he belongs - all thanks to our incredible staff, partners, supporters - and every one of you.

So again, none of this is possible without y'all so we just want to say thank you again from all of us 🙌

08/01/2026

August 1, 2026—⚡You might be "shocked" to know that there's an Open House at Appalachian Bear Rescue until 2 p.m. today!

As you can see, Jaimie is ready to show you how to use an "unwelcome mat", set up electric fencing or practice using a slingshot—they really can be an effective bear deterrent!

We understand that some of the ways to prevent attracting bears and to discourage repeat visitors can be a little intimidating and we all were beginners at one point too. Most people learn best with hands-on instruction, so we thought hosting some open house events might be a great way to invite the community to learn how to protect your property and keep our bears wild by being BearWise®.

There are no "dumb" questions and we are not here to judge or shame anyone who has had a bear visitor on their property, we really just want to help!

We also have some refreshments, including pound cake, of course, in honor of how ABR friend TWRA Officer David Sexton was able to finally get Hemlock, our newest cub resident to safety.

Join us for these monthly open house events every first Saturday through November!

🐻Keep Bears Wild: Early Actions That Make a Difference
📅August 1 — Sept 5 — Oct 3 — Nov 7
📍ABR Visitor Center at 121 Painted Trillium Way, Townsend, TN 37882
Learn more on our Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BQijSGRas/

Visit https://bearwise.org and follow Smokies BearWise for great resources on learning how to keep our black bears wild!

07/31/2026

July 31, 2026 - Hemlock and His Hitchhikers🐻🌲🐛

ABR's newest resident is really settling into his space in Hartley House. He receives two square meals a day, room service from some of the industry's most highly trained professionals, and endless enrichment items. Hemlock's responsibility while he is at ABR is to eat, sleep, play and grow and the curators are responsible for the rest of the tasks (ie: clean up, food prep, laundry, dishes... boring). It seems as though Hemlock doesn't mind rearranging his room set up to his preference once curators are through with their sub-par setups😉. The clean bowl club, though currently a small club with a member count of one, continues to have very involved membership.

In other news, there is one piece of excitement during Hemlock's intake vet visit this past Tuesday that we have not yet mentioned (and some of you may wish we didn't😁). For over the past decade, all bear cubs that have come to ABR for care have had an intake visit at University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine to ensure we have a full picture of a cub's health as they start their journey at our facility. Vets and curators have seen many things during cub intake exams over the years. However, Hemlock's exam checked a new "ailment" off of ABR's list (mind you, it is a long list of over 400 cubs!). Upon his head to tail inspection, the vets found two curious lumps. At a closer look, they found out Hemlock had two Cuterebra larvae (botfly) "hitchhiking" on him. While this finding might cause the majority of the population to say "ew", the vets in the room all said "cool"! While botflies are not uncommon here in the southeast, the vets have never seen them on a bear at UT! After the larvae were extracted, vets cleaned the small wounds and gave Hemlock a clean bill of health. Bear cubs are in the very best hands with Dr. Julie Sheldon, Dr. Liandrie Swanepoel, and their vet team at UT and we are grateful for their partnership with ABR! Dr. Swanepoel had even been saving a bear shirt in her drawer for the past year to wear for the momentous occasion of ABR's first intake bear in over a year!

We know you all appreciate and have come to know daily updates about cubs in our care! We are honored to have a group of people who care so much. However, right now as we settle into things, we don't want to get everyone's hopes up about daily posts. But don't fret! We will keep you updated on all things ABR, particularly our cub residents, as much as we can (and perhaps keep you entertained along the way). Thanks for helping us, help bears🐻

Join us for our Open House tomorrow from 10-2 at our Trillium Cove Visitor Center (121 Painted Trillium Way, Townsend, TN) to talk about how we can make our homes more bear resistant!

07/30/2026

July 30, 2026 - A Hungry Hungry Hemlock🐻🌲

ABR's newest cub resident, Hemlock Bear is doing great. He is full of energy, curious of his surroundings, and has a big appetite!

Some of our supporters were worried about how the pound cake and bologna sandwich used to catch him in the cub trap would sit in Hemlock's belly. Fear not, the curators have confirmed that this little bear's plumbing is in perfect working order👷‍♂️! In fact, on his way to ABR from the vets at UT, Hemlock passed some of that morning's breakfast (Curator Katrina mentioned that she had never been so grateful to clean up bear s**t in her life). Immediately after being let into his new space in Hartley House on Tuesday evening, he went straight for the rations.

Once Hemlock finished his bowl of medicine laced honey, he moved on to check out all of the enrichment items in his new space. He inspected the room, high and low, for any possible escape spots. Luckily everything at ABR is built with clever cubs in mind, so escape is simply not possible. Once the inspection was complete, Hemlock was quick to move onto the bowl of formula waiting for him. The formula stood no chance to this new resident's belly and there was a new member of the clean bowl club. With a full stomach, Hemlock promptly went to sleep. It was a long day for this cub and for the curators!

On the Hartley House Menu for this week:
- Bear milk replacement formula (diluted concentration)
- Bear Diet pellets
- Grapes, blueberries, apples, and strawberries
- Honey (laced with deworming medication🤫)

Hemlock is on the typical deworming protocol all new ABR residents are put on when they arrive. He will take his medicine laced honey for three days and if there is no sign of adult worms, he will be good to go! Hemlock has taken well to his short refeeding diet, so curators are introducing bear diet by way of "cub cereal" (bear diet pellets floated in formula). Because we cannot throw formula over the fence into the Wild Enclosures, it is important to get him eating mostly solid foods!

Thank you all for your well wishes and words of encouragement for Hemlock. He is doing all of the normal things cubs should be doing. Soon enough he will be given the go ahead to be put outside in a Wild Enclosure. In the meantime, while we don't want cubs to need our services, it would be good if Hemlock gets a bear friend. Cubs are social animals and ABR bears are great at learning how to be wild bears with their other cub residents! Until then, we continue to do what we do best🐻

If you would like to symbolically adopt Hemlock Bear, you can do that here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/adopt-a-cub

We still have a few spots on our Cades Cove Pink Jeep Tour! Get tickets here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/pink-jeep-x-abr-panorama-van-tour

07/29/2026

Hot Off The Press!

Check out this exclusive interview with ABR Director, Greg Grieco at WVLT studio in Knoxville today. We are so excited to share this news with you and hope you enjoy hearing from Greg as he discusses what it means to be back in the bear business with Will Puckett!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, tears of joy, adoptions, and donations as we welcome Hemlock Bear into our care.

07/29/2026

🐻 After more than a year and a half, Appalachian Bear Rescue has officially welcomed its first rescued black bear cub back into our care 🐻
Meet Hemlock—ABR Bear #427.

An orphaned male cub, Hemlock was rescued on July 28 by Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Wildlife Officer David Sexton after spending nearly two weeks alone behind a residence in Gatlinburg. Severely underweight, he received a full medical examination and treatment at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine before arriving here at Appalachian Bear Rescue.

When he came to us, Hemlock weighed just seven and a half pounds—less than half the healthy weight for a cub his age.

His name comes from the eastern hemlock tree, a species native to these mountains that has endured incredible challenges with remarkable resilience: a fitting name for a cub who's already overcome so much—then come to a rescue that has, too.

Hemlock is receiving around-the-clock care inside ABR’s state-of-the-art Hartley House, where our team is helping him regain the strength he needs for the journey back to the wild where he belongs.

Your support helps care for Hemlock today—and ensures we're ready to help the next orphaned bear cub that needs help.

🌲Adopt Hemlock Bear here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/adopt-a-cub?variant=

🌲Donate here: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/donate-today/

07/29/2026

🚨ABR Newsflash🚨
July 29, 2026 - ABR Bear #427 Arrives🐻

This is not a drill, we repeat… this is NOT a drill!

Yesterday, as ABR staff were going about their Tuesday afternoon, Curator Seth received a call from our longtime ABR friend TWRA Officer David Sexton. Officer Sexton asked Seth a million dollar question - “Would you like a bear cub?”. After Seth answered with an enthusiastic “Yes!”, Officer Sexton told Seth to meet him at UTCVM for the cub’s intake exam. This cub had been called in after some folks in a neighborhood on the east side of Gatlinburg noticed it had been without its mother for over two weeks. Neighbors mention the cub also appeared very small for this time of year.

Seth rounded up Curator Katrina, who initially thought a prank was being played on her, and the ABR Mobile (the Defender) headed to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine to pick up ABR’s first bear cub resident in over a year and half.

Dr. Julie Sheldon and her team already had the cub anesthetized by the time the curators arrived. Bear #427 is a male who weighs only 7.7 pounds (3.5kg) and besides having a few parasites on him, is healthy and full of s***k. Although healthy cubs this time of year should weigh closer to 20 pounds (9kg), the vets at UT gave this little bear a great prognosis. Officer Sexton mentioned that the cub also had a good appetite based on the fact that before being successfully caught, the little bear ate all of the pound cake Officer Sexton had in his truck as well as the bologna sandwich he had packed for lunch (thank you for your lunch sacrifice, Officer Sexton🤝)! Bear #427 was discharged into ABR’s care with a prescription of the normal round of deworming medications and a plan for a short refeeding diet due to his underweight condition. He will be spending the next few weeks in Hartley House until he reaches an appropriate weight and demonstrates his ability to eat solid foods. Once those boxes are checked, he will be ready to go out into our newest Wild Enclosures 5 & 6. Please welcome Hemlock Bear!🐻🌲

As Executive Director Greg puts it, “Welcoming Hemlock Bear into our care is a testament to the resilience of our staff, board members, volunteers, and supporters. It's a reminder that when government agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and our local community all work together we can accomplish great things . Hemlock is the 427th bear to be admitted into our care, and we are equally honored as we are humbled to share and celebrate this special moment with all of our supporters, without whom this would not be possible."

With the arrival of Hemlock Bear, our facility will return to full operation. This includes 24/7 staffing, staggered shifts by curators and undoubtedly more maintenance for Curator Tom😉.
To help support these efforts you can:

🌲Adopt Hemlock Bear here: https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/products/adopt-a-cub?variant=

🌲Donate here: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/donate-today/

🌲Become an ABR Member: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/membership/